


the crunch of a fresh apple

by elevenoclock



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-03
Updated: 2011-07-03
Packaged: 2017-10-20 23:40:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/218353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elevenoclock/pseuds/elevenoclock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The people in the caves spend a lot of time bemoaning their losses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the crunch of a fresh apple

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Session 4, Round 4 of The New Pub. The theme was "Textures & Sensations", and this piece was written in 20 minutes for the prompt "the crunch of a fresh apple". Join us every Saturday afternoon at http://thenewpub.livejournal.com!

[original link](http://thenewpub.livejournal.com/7401.html)

The people in the caves spend a lot of time bemoaning their losses, complaining about this or that-- the lack of clean clothes, the smell of sulfer when the soldiers return from the surface, the noise of a thousand other people surrounding them.

Eve wishes they'd all shut up.

She remembers the time Before, when the sky was still blue and there was fresh air and clean water that didn't taste of iodine tablets. She remembers when the bombs fell. She remembers being saved by the soldiers and taken to this shelter.

But they're alive, and there's more value in that than there ever was in electricity or the comforts of their former lives.

Which isn't to say that Eve doesn't miss things. She misses her cat, and her brother who died in the weeks after the bombs fell, and her father who spends most of his time on the surface with a gas mask covering his grim face.

Mostly, though, she misses apples. The crunch of a fresh apple in her mouth, the feel of an apple against her palm, the smell of the orchard down the road when the trees were in bloom.

Still, she keeps her silence and lives her life in the caves, grinding her teeth against the complaints of those around her. She knows they're just scared, that they long for the past. But she's moved on, and she wishes they would, too.


End file.
